This blog is for Mormons who have questions about vaccines, though anyone is welcome! Much of the research is relevant to anyone.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Well What Would You Do If... Part II

Polio- Polio is the “poster child” disease for vaccination. Those who question vaccination will be treated to tales of cousins who were confined to iron lungs and mothers who lived in fear of their children being sent home from school sick. They will hear about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who contracted polio at the age of 39, and not as a child) being confined to a wheelchair. These narratives will be accompanied by speeches about how Jonas Salk was one of the greatest and most courageous scientific minds of the twentieth-century.We’ve all been lead to believe that polio invariably causes death or paralysis. However, this is not the case. In fact, 95% of people who have been naturally exposed to the polio virus will exhibit no symptoms, even in an epidemic, and of those who do contract the disease, only about 1 in 1,000 will suffer paralysis, leading researchers to believe that some people are simply more susceptible to polio than others (1). Polio was also on the decline before the vaccine was introduced, though there was a sharp spike in polio cases in the 1940’s when DTP vaccination became widespread. From 1923 to 1953 the polio rate in the United States declined 47%. In England, it declined by 55% between 1923 and 1953. Many European countries did not use the polio vaccine until some time after 1953 and still saw declines in polio rates. Even after the vaccine became available in these countries it remained optional, and still the polio rates declined (2).Polio is an enterovirus, and though the CDC claims that polio has been eliminated from the Western Hemisphere, they still warn of the possibility of “non-polio enteroviruses”. In fact, the CDC says that these type of viruses are very common, second only to cold viruses as the most common infectious agents in humans. These viruses can cause “summer colds” and aseptic meningitis. Actually, the symptoms of non-polio enteroviruses are identical to the ones caused by the poliovirus: flu-like illness with fever, muscle aches, and rash. They can even cause paralysis. Curiously enough, there is no vaccine for these viruses. And despite the striking similarities between poliovirus and non-polio enteroviruses, the CDC strongest recommendation for stopping the spread of non-polio enteroviruses is handwashing. (3) But if handwashing is the best defense against non-polio enteroviruses and the symptoms they create are so similar why do we have a vaccine for polio and not for other enteroviruses? Why not just use handwashing to combat polio?

Also of concern with the vaccine itself are animal byproducts contained in polio vaccines, which are often contaminated with animal viruses. Animal virus contamination should not be taken lightly. Simian Virus 40 is an example of what animal viruses in vaccines can do. Simian Virus 40 (SV40) was in monkey cell cultures used for growing polio vaccines 1954 to 1963. An estimated 98 million Americans and hundreds of millions worldwide received the contaminated vaccine. A 1990 study found a higher incidence of brain tumors in recipients of the contaminated vaccine. A 1988 study of 58,000 women who had received the vaccine showed a thirteenfold increase in brain tumors among the children of these women. Laboratory testing later confirmed the relationship between SV40 and cancer when lab animals injected with the virus developed cancer. More than 60 studies have found SV40 in brain, bone, and lung cancers and linked the monkey virus to early childhood brain tumors. Researcher Michele Carbone found an unopened case of the 1955 vaccine in a Chicago doctor’s office, compared the strains of SV40 from the vaccine to the strain in human bone and brain tumors and in monkeys and found they were identical, providing proof that the vaccine was the source of the spread to humans. (4) More detailed information can be found in the book Malignant Mesothelioma: Advances in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Translational Therapies, edited by Harvey I. Pass, Nicholas J. Vogelzang, and Michele Carbone.

Another example of vaccination-spread animal viruses causing health problems is the African green monkey virus in other polio vaccines. In 1995, Dr. John Martin published his findings about an unusual virus he discovered in cultures isolated from two patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. It was a cytomegalovirus-like “stealth” virus, so called because lacking target antigens for recognition by the body’s cellular immune system, it failed to provoke an inflammatory response. Comparisons of the stealth virus and other viruses showed its DNA sequences to be very similar to a simian cytomegalovirus found in African green monkeys. Dr. Martin identified stealth viral infection in the following conditions: chronic fatigue syndrome, autism, fibromyalgia, Gulf War Syndrome, adult depression and dementia, and children’s attention deficit and behavioral disorders. The most likely route of transmission is the polio vaccine since it contains African green monkey tissues (5). Dr. Martin’s first study was published in Clinical and Diagnostic Virology, volume 4, issue 1, in July 1995.

It is a documented fact that paralytic polio cases can and do follow DTP injections. This was first documented in 1909 and subsequently seen in the polio outbreaks of the 1950’s in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (6). This fact has been known for years and is corroborated by the findings in several studies such as HV Wyatt’s 2003 study (8), a 1995 study by Strebel et. al. (9), and the 1949 JK Martin study (10). We’ve all been told that polio ran rampant in the 1950’s because of a lack of vaccines, but in fact the opposite is true. But don’t take my word for it, take the word of Sister Neva Borden in the April 1986 Ensign:“I first became interested in the DPT vaccine when my daughter contracted polio from her DPT shots. Afterwards, my pediatrician told me that I could have “buffered” her against such a strong reaction by giving her Vitamin C just before she received the shot. Each time I buy her a shoe lift, I think of how this belated advice could have saved my daughter from the deformity she now must live with all her life.”(Of course Sister Borden’s letter was countered by a dismayed nurse in the June 1986 Ensign who warned that we are all going to suffer death and serious injury if we don’t vaccinate our children and ourselves. Despite her good intentions, it is doubtful that Sister Miller of Ames, Iowa was aware of any of the studies and evidence pointing to the unnecessary nature of the polio vaccine. If you’re out there Sister Miller, and haven’t changed your position since 1986, I would encourage you to read this blog.)Other cases of polio have been caused by the vaccine itself as the case of Brother Alvin Martinez in the August 1994 New Era shows. Brother Martinez was born healthy but was vaccinated for polio like most other Filipino newborns. The vaccine attacked his nervous system, rendering his right arm and leg immobile. The oral polio vaccine has been implicated numerous times for causing polio, but is still being administered in many third world countries. However, in the United States, OPV is no longer used for this very reason. (7) So it’s not safe to give American children the OPV, but it is safe and even necessary to give third world children the OPV? And we call this humanitarian aid?! And speaking of polio in third world countries, the global “War on Polio” just isn’t working. The April 23, 2010 edition of the Wall Street Journal describes how Bill Gates is having to rethink his stance on battling polio in Africa with vaccines. Mr. Gates gave $700 million dollars for a mass polio vaccination campaign in Nigeria. Despite the campaign, which included door-to-door vaccinators, polio still persists in Nigeria and in fact, half of the 1,600 cases of polio reported in 2009 happened in vaccinated individuals. (8) Evidence also points to fully vaccinated children transmitting polio during a 1988-1989 outbreak of the disease in Oman. (9)So you can see why I don’t get all misty-eyed about polio vaccination and Jonas Salk. But if my child did happen to catch a severe case of paralytic polio, here is what I would do:

Homeopathy- An uncontrolled study conducted during the 1950’s and published in the 1961 Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy of 50,000 children who received Lathyrus, a homeopathic treatment for polio, showed that only one child contracted polio and that case was non-paralytic. In a study of a 1902 smallpox outbreak in Iowa, 2,806 people were given a homeopathic preventative for the disease, 547 were exposed to the disease, and 14 actually contracted it. This was published in the North American Journal of Homeopathy, volume 58; a summary can be seen on page 781. (Neustaedter 97-99)

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Disclaimer

The information herein is my own research and the opinions expressed herein reflect my views and are not representative of the LDS Church. This information is not intended to be used to diagnose, prevent, cure or treat any health condition(s), if you have a health condition please see a qualified practitioner for advice.